I Am Here'
by Divinitas Intereo
Summary: All Might has always appeared, saving people with a Smile, and the words, 'I Am Here' Those words have become a symbol for the people as much as he has. This oneshot encapsulates some of those moments and introspects on their significance to All Might, and the world.


' _I want to make a world where everyone can smile and live together_

 _...A symbol is necessary for that to happen._

 _They have no pillar to rely on!_

 _That's why_ _ **I**_ _will become that pillar._

 _-Toshinori Yagi_

* * *

' _One foot in front of the other. Just keep one foot in front of the other.'_ The tragedy that had occurred was understandably causing the havoc everywhere around. Through it all, his mind was only on the people that were depending on him. He was hot, his eyes burned from the smoke, and his lungs could feel the toxicity of what he was breathing in. There was a cut from somewhere above his eye, and he could feel the blood flowing down the side of his face.

' _One more, I know there must have been one more.'_ Looking around himself, the other people on his back barely impeding his movement, the power of _One for All_ flowing through him, he focused for a moment and let out a breath calming himself. They were depending on him. Nana's words flowed through his mind,

" _When you have to save someone, they're usually in a scary situation. A true hero saves not only their lives, but also their hearts… That's what I believe."_

Seeing the final person he knew was here, he gently picked them up and began his walk over the bus, the panicked voice of someone reaching through everything else that was going on. "Can you see that!? He's already saved over a hundred people! That's crazy! It hasn't even been ten minutes!" He could hear the amazed panic in the man's voice, and he knew that man wasn't the only one watching him right now. "That's crazy!" The exclamation from the same man steeled him. Looking up over the bus, he was only vaguely aware of how his jaw hurt from maintaining the smile he'd had glued to his face from the moment he'd arrived on scene.

Thinking about how silly all of it was, how silly he felt to himself-people on his back, one person under each arm and wearing this overly flashy costume with his hair spiked straight up, the thrill of what the man was saying, his complete shock at the situation, and all the other factors he did the only thing he could. Inhaling in deep the toxic smoke, the smell of sweat, fear, apprehension, panic, everything, he let out the loudest laugh he possibly could. After all, just saving their bodies from this wasn't his only goal. He had to let them know.

"He's laughing!"

He had to let them know. They needed to know. From here on out everyone would know.

"It's fine now."

He could feel their eyes on him, feel the way that they were all looking at him.

"Why?"

Their collective view on him held on his next answer. His smile grew one extra inch. With this they would know that they didn't have to be scared anymore. They didn't need to fear the shadows of the world anymore. They didn't need to walk around uncertain….

"Because I am here!"

* * *

The battle was brutal. All around the injured and in need of rescue this time weren't just civilians. There were heroes with fear stricken in their eyes. The look of defeat was cowing the backs of even the most resilient. Gran Torino was busy elsewhere, and the number one and two heroes couldn't make it here in time. Although the number three hero had...his body was currently littering the ground, broken like all the other heroes who had tried to confront this man.

His power was overflowing, his quirk one that was bending everyone to their knees. Gravity. He was using gravity to crush anyone who came near him. It wasn't hard to see why most of the heroes hadn't stood a chance against this man.

He could taste it, the fear in the air. How palpable it was. This was the reason that people were afraid to live their lives. This was the reason that everyone cowered away from the world, placated by just trying to scrape by. Crime ran rampant across the world, and there was no one who could do anything about it. And with people like this around, why would anyone want to? When someone had the ability to crush you without lifting a finger what could anyone do in the face of that?

Heat flared right beside him. Sparing a look to his right, he gave a nod to Endeavor. The man had a habit of showing up wherever the battle was the fiercest, and he had to hand it to him: the man had one hell of a Quirk. He could only imagine what would have become of _One For All_ if he had been given the power. How far he could have taken it.

"He's gone mad with his own Quirk."

It was a simple statement but true. He knew that Endeavor wasn't afraid, but he wasn't stupid either. Gravity wasn't something that fire could do much against, and although Endeavor had a build that seemingly rivaled his own, there was something to be said about having the gravity doubled or tripled.

A piercing scream from down below steeled his bones.

"It's okay." He could feel Endeavor shift to look at him. The going order right now was to stand down and not let the madman get anymore casualties. After all, the body of seven different heroes were already counted among the dead. Clenching his fist, he put a foot on the ledge of the building. The fallen comrades down below him flowing through his head. If only he'd been faster.

"Everything is going to be okay."

"Don't be stupid All Might, we all want fame-we all want to be number one but we have to be alive in order to reach that point. We should wait for backup to arrive, it's better to insure we take him down once and for all than to attempt to take him down alone and only let him cause more havoc."

Taking in a breath, he smiled and turned to Endeavor.

"There's no need to worry, everything will be fine now."

"Don't let your own ego make you into an imbecile, you can give that crap speech to everyone else, but I'm a hero just like you are!"

It wasn't about ego. It wasn't about the money, and it wasn't even about the need to be a hero. Giving one last smile to Endeavor he jumped from the building and landed just outside of the effective range of the man's Quirk.

" _FOOOOOOL!"_

The mini crater that formed where he was standing provided a nice path for him to land. Standing up, he looked around at everyone who was now staring at him. Panic, fear, hopelessness. In their heart of hearts they honestly believed that there was no one who could save them. He had so much work to do. Giving everyone around him the biggest smile he could, he stared down at the hell he was about to walk into. Inside he felt like someone was squeezing his intestines to the point the where physical pain was almost occuring. His mouth was dry, and he could feel a little sweat on his hands. Nerves were not something that _All For One_ came with. He'd have to develop those more on his own. But for now….for now, until he managed to have those nerves of steel to rival the muscles that his Quirk gave him, he would do this, he would give the people this. Just like Nana had given it to him.

" _So no matter how scary things get, give 'em a smile, as if to say, "I'm a-ok"._ "

"Fear not, citizens!"

Time seemed to freeze as they watched him walking forward. No one had made it past this point. Even the number three hero had only been able to take a step before he'd been defeated. The madman before him was a nameless threat, the exact kind of threat that the people feared, the stuff of their nightmares-and that madness had its attention on him. Walking forward he felt the weight of this man's power on him like a mountain top falling to the earth. Another step felt like another mountain had fallen. His smile only widened, while a look of confusion formed on the villain's face.

"Hope has arrived!"

With each step the world around him reached in to crush him, to attempt to bring him down, but on he walked. They would know. They were learning, but they still didn't know it, within their heart of hearts. This was why he still had so much work to do. The bodies around him made him ache more than the weight of the world crushing in around him. He had failed them. He would never fail them again. Even opening his mouth at this point took exponential effort, but that was okay. It was okay because he could bear it, and he would do exactly as he promised...he would prove that to them.

With what felt like the weight of the world on his shoulders, and with the ground feeling like it was going to tear his jaw off because of his smile, he stood as tall as he could, looking boldly into the eyes of the madman who had caused all of this.

"Because **I** Am Here!"

* * *

' _If this is what death feels like, it's something I never want to feel again.'_

This was the a kind of pain he'd never felt before. Not even the wounds he'd been dealt at the hands of Toxic Chainsaw came anywhere close to this...But finally it was done. Finally, after all his searching and all of his battles it was done. Closing his eyes for a moment, he felt himself drift away. The only thing he could say for anything was that if this was it, at least he had avenged his masters killer.

' _You can rest in peace now Nana, I finally defeated him.'_

 **One For All** would never be able to actively move about ever again. He had made sure of that…

"All Might..!"

The voices seemed so far away, and even though he could feel hands grabbing and lifting him, everything felt number. Even attempting to open his eyes felt as if he was stabbing himself. His strength was ebbing out of him slowly, and he knew that his muscle form was fading….there was nothing he could do about it.

"What's...look at his body!"

The panic in their voices, it made him want to open his eyes, but the weight was more than Gravitrix had ever been able to create. How long ago had that battle been? Endeavor had nearly melted the building they'd been standing next to chewing him out for his ego after he had defeated him that time.

"...'s fine….hospital….know!"

Gran Torino's voice pounded in his head, but he could only hear every other word. He knew things were happening around him, at least Gran Torino would know what to do. He drifted again...

The steady beeping of the heart monitor in his room managed to wake him. Finally, it didn't feel like there were weights on his eyes. Doing the best he could to force his eyes open, the sun streaming in through the window caught his eyes for a moment before he shut them. The light was bright.

"Toshinori...?"

Tsukauchi. Opening his eyes again, he was greeted by the smile of his most trusted friend. Naomasa looked haggard, his eyes were worn, he was completely disheveled, and his new Detective Uniform was in complete disarray.

Attempting to get up, pain unlike he'd ever felt before shot through his body. Tsukauchi's hands were on his shoulder pushing him down into the bed, and the moment he stopped trying to get up, the pain stopped. His heart monitor was going a little crazy, and no sooner than it had gone off, a team of doctors and men in suits were jumping into the room, a look of fear in their eyes. Gran Torino rushed in after them, the concern and worry on his face at what might be happening washing over him, and for once, he looked down at himself.

' _Oh no…'_

His body was wrecked with injuries. His muscle form, the form he showed everyone to insure that their ideal savoir appeared exactly as he should, had faded away and in its place was this wreck of a body. Concentrating on feeling everything, he could tell that things were different. Even trying to flex around his stomach was bringing him pain, and breathing currently came at a cost. Which explained why there was an oxygen mask on him at the moment.

Looking from Tsukauchi to Gran Torino, he tried to open his mouth to speak, but his throat felt like it was composed of sand paper. Gran Torino hurriedly rushed everyone but Tsukauchi out of the room and closed the door behind them. Standing there in front of his bed for a moment, his former teacher could only look at him, letting the gravity of the situation hang in the air.

"Toshinori...I am so sorry."

The explanation came out slowly, insuring that he understood everything that was being told to him. Closing his eyes, the burn of tears streamed down his face. He had defeated **All For One** -but at the price of leaving _One For All_ in the hands of a cripple…

The men in the suits were back in the room now, they had entered sometime when Gran Torino had been talking to him. Fear was in their eyes. The fear of what would happen when the world discovered what had become of him. Fear was in the eyes of Tsukauchi..fear for his friend and what would become of him, and worry was in the eyes of Gran Torino. Above anyone, Gran Torino knew how much of himself he had given to this fight.

Looking at all of their faces, he saw in their eyes everything that he pushed away simply by existing. He was the Symbol of Peace, the assurance to the world that everything would be okay. He was, to them, the insurance that no matter how bad things became, no matter who else failed, or whoever couldn't make it, that ultimately in the end, everything would be fine. They needed him to be that, otherwise doubt would slip into the world again. Looking at them around his bed, looking at Gran Torino, he knew what he must do even before he thought it. Reaching within, going beyond what he knew he was capable of, he wrestled with _One For All_. After all...it was for moments such as this that he had desired the ability to become a Hero...it was for this that he bore the weight of all heroes.

Even as they watched, strength filled his body, the medical gown began to tear, and the bed screeched with the weight that was being added on to him. Reaching up with his arm, his very presence stopped them from interfering with him, and the look in his eyes stopped Gran Torino from stopping him.

"It's okay...Even if my body is broken, and it seems like all hope is lost…" The heart monitor was unaware of how to read his body as it sent alerts. Pain racked through him, but that wasn't his concern now. That wasn't for him to worry about-he couldn't worry about that now. "Never forget this, no matter what!" His voice rasped as it scraped out, every word taking strength he didn't have to give, but that was ok.

Putting his legs over the bed, and standing up, looking into the eyes of the shocked men in the room, into the eyes of his unbelieving best friend, and into the sorrowful eyes of the teacher who knew exactly what he was doing, he smiled.

After all, she had told him best:

" _The people in this world who can smile are always the strongest."_

"Everything will be fine."

The hope reentered their eyes even as they were looking at him, the shadow of the hospital bed next to him now invisible to them. Because he could stand, because he could take away their fear, their doubt, they had no reason to not believe him. No reason to know that he felt like he was about to pass out just standing up. No reason to know that keeping this form felt like it was killing him. Pulling off the monitors and oxygen mask, he proudly stood before them.

"Why?"

Hope...hope to the world. Hope not just for now, but for the future. It wasn't just him. He was, after all, the inheritor of _One For All_...and even if he was now a cripple, that didn't mean that _One For All_ was crippled, or that the Symbol of Peace was gone...it just meant that it was now time for someone else to take up this mantle. But until then…

"Because **I** Am Here."

* * *

Young Iida had been so worried about everyone when he ran into him. The frightened and panicked disposition he'd had almost made it hard for him to understand, but there was no mistaking what was going on. The students were in trouble, villains were attacking, and more than that...Midoriya was in danger.

He'd spent the entire morning foolishly doing Hero work that others could have done. It wasn't that he didn't think them incapable, but...it was more for the people than anything else. These last five years people had begun to notice how he appeared less and less. How he only stepped in when it was of dire importance. He couldn't let those who would take advantage think that even the smallest crime would go unnoticed by him. The very thought of his name now prevented crime, and he had finally become what he needed to be: The Symbol of Peace.

That hadn't been enough to stop this though. Running for all he was worth, he made his way to the USJ and burst into the doors. The sounds of the battles stopping simultaneously flowed into his ears, and he could feel it, once again all eyes were on him. Walking forward, he began to speak.

"I had a bad feeling, so I tore myself away from my chat with the principal and came..."

The looks of the faces on his students, some jubilant, others openly weeping for their salvation didn't escape him.

"I passed young Iida on my way and got a rough idea of what had happened."

For the first time he couldn't make his trademark smile appear. As he clenched his mouth, his teeth showed, but there was anger there. He knew it, although luckily he knew from experience that people didn't watch him too closely...people that weren't named Midoriya that was.

' _Good grief, it really makes me angry...Thinking about how frightening it must have been for the children...and how hard my juniors fought...but that is why...I must proudly say-'_

"It's fine now!"

Walking to the base of the stairs that led down, he surveyed everything before him. It really was a mess. They were seconds away from defeat. But that didn't matter. It didn't matter that he could already feel this form slipping away from him, and it didn't matter that he was sure that this would be just as hard as his most difficult battles. For them...for them he could be what they needed him to be. For them he could boldly say:

" **I Am Here!"**

* * *

The building felt heavy, and his breathing was labored. The two bars through his stomach didn't help the situation at all either. Outside, he could hear the intensity of the battle going on all around them, and he could feel the vibrations of the fury that was being unleashed. Every now and again a voice he could recognize would sound through the air, and it would steel him.

Around him hushed voices either wept or silently prayed for salvation, and all he could do was keep this small amount of rubble from caving in on them. Days when he could have removed everyone and saved them with the blink of an eye were long past now, but even if he didn't have _One For All_ anymore, he could still save them.

"Don't...be afraid…" The trailing labor of his voice broke through their weeping and ministrations, and they all turned to him. They knew him and who he was in this form now, but even with that knowledge the fear was still in their eyes. The announcement of his retirement had finally been done and the people knew that All Might the Symbol of Peace was no longer able to save them, these people knew he couldn't save them.

"There's nothing to fear," The blood that was creeping out of his mouth nearly caused him to gurgle the last words, but even still he held their eyes. He would put hope into their lives if it was the last thing that he ever did!

"Remember that even now, you can smile, because even now there is hope for the wor-" Coughing interrupted his speech, and the people worried as the rubble shook around him, but he held his arms up. There were only ten or fifteen, but that was still ten or fifteen precious lives. A small boy was looking at him, tears staining his face, and he was shaking with fear.

"Always remember that there's nothing to fear." The rubble above them shook as _his_ voice filled the air. If possible, he stood straighter, bolder than he had before. The sounds of battle stopped soon, and the impressions in the air and shaking of the ground ceased as everyone went stark quiet. "You are safe, and you will be saved…."

He could hear the people outside beginning their rescue operations and noting that there were people under here, and how someone must be holding the rubble up. His arms felt like they were slowly breaking, but he would not be beaten by rocks. "Everything will be fine…"

"...why?" His labored breathing was coming in short gasp, but even still, his smile couldn't have been bigger as the rubble on top of him was pulled away and he caught a first glimpse into the eyes of his Hero. They stared at one another for a moment as the hero took in the sight of him and pain flashed across his face. Finally able to let go of the rubble, he moved his hands from holding it, and took one finger, pushing up at the heroes face, forcing a smile through the tears on the heroes face.

"It's Deku!" Th young boy yelled, his excitement and relief evident by the smile on his face. The people around them rejoiced even while he could see Deku internally breaking, but the smile that he had reminded him to keep remained on Deku's face, and he opened his mouth, proudly saying the words that he could no longer say:

"I am here."

* * *

I developed this idea some time ago wherein I wanted to take a deeper look into All Might's reason for saying those words: I Am Here. The significance of them to him are shown in the etymology of the Japanese phrase, ' _Watashi Ga Kita_ '. Specifically it meant to stress the I in that saying, and I fell a little in love with the way All Might portrayed himself, not just to the people but also to the heroes around him. His conversations with Nana and with Gran Torino reveal that he wanted nothing more than to be a light in the world and help people smile, because at the end of the day he was there for them. So I took that, and did my best to communicate: 1.) The first time he'd ever said those words to the public, 2.) The first time he felt the weight of them, 3.) The first time he had to mean them not just from the world, but for himself, 4.) The first time he realized he couldn't smile while saying them, and 5.) The first time he was able to trust someone else with those words. Hopefully you've enjoyed this little one shot that I've written. I don't think I plan to ever write in the My Hero Academia universe again, but who knows?

Divinitas Intereo


End file.
